The Author

Sheryl is the founder of The No Gluten Solution: Feeding Family and Friends, which is the culmination of her talents, skills, and her personal desire to develop an effortless style of cooking good food, making her guests comfortable, and always having an excuse for a dinner party.

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Thanksgiving is in 2 days and I haven’t started cooking. And, I haven’t finished shopping, haven’t set the tables, nor bought holiday napkins, washed my buffet dinner plates or put all the clutter away. What am I waiting for? My guests will be here in less than 48 hours.

Time To Get The Cooking Started

I can blame my inertia on feeling yucky; I caught a really bad cold, but that would be a copout. It has been my pattern to leave things to the last minute, but as I am getting older, I am finding that I am not as capable as in the past.

So how do I get started? It is in my best interest to heed my own advice and begin to prepare for my 20 guests, so here is what I would tell a friend:

Finalize your menu.

Make your shopping list and go forth to the stores. Hopefully, you already ordered or purchased your turkey.

Don’t forget to buy beverages, ice, if you need, lemons and/or limes for the drinks.

Check to see if you need paper towels, toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, hand soap, food wrap, containers, etc. You don’t want to run out of the basics and you will need stuff to store the food you prepared.

Clean the house and put the clutter away.

Take out the dishes and serving pieces you will be using and make sure they are clean and polished. Put them somewhere out of your cooking area.

Put together a cooking timeline, listing the foods you can prepare ahead of time and what needs to be done on Thanksgiving.

Begin preparing the dishes that can be stored. For example, cranberry sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead.

Get as much done as you can the day before Thanksgiving. Prepare and cook as much of the meal as possible, (almost everything can be reheated) and set the table.

On Thanksgiving, review your menu and adjust your cooking timeline. If you have all the dishes listed, you won’t forget to heat or serve them. (I can’t tell you how many times I found something I prepared in the back of the refrigerator.)

I am glad I did this list because my tasks seem less daunting. My menu has been completed, my turkey was ordered and I did take care of beverages and household items. Now I will complete my shopping list and go to the market.